1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for managing a network, and more particularly to techniques for registering and updating management information which defines operations of a variety of information processing devices on a switched network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a shared media network such as Ethernet, the network is generally managed on physical components of the network. Management information utilized for monitoring of the configuration and operational situation of the network, communication control, and so on is also managed collectively for all components on the network. The management information may be related to each other in a complicated manner. Particularly, a large scaled network involves complicated registration and update operations requiring a large number of steps which must be performed by an administrator when the configuration of the network is modified.
Switched networks, which utilize ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) techniques to realize faster communications, have been increasingly spread in the art. A switched network may be represented by a logical configuration in addition to a physical configuration defining actual network components. It is also possible to divide a physical network into a plurality of closed area networks, each of which may be managed as an independent network. In this configuration, management information may also be managed for each closed area network. Such a logical network is referred to as a xe2x80x9cvirtual networkxe2x80x9d. A construction and management of a virtual network is described in detail in xe2x80x9cRush into Virtual LANxe2x80x9d in Nikkei Communication, Nov. 21 1994 issue.
In an organization of an enterprise and so on, positions of employees may be frequently changed due to personnel changes or the like. With personnel changes, information processing devices such as personal computers, workstations, and so on may be moved to new offices together with their users. According to the prior art mentioned above, management information can be easily updated as long as modifications are limited to the configuration internal to each closed area network forming part of a switched network. The prior art, however, does not at all take into account registration and update operations for modifications to the configuration, due to changes in positions of the users or the like, which involve a plurality of closed area networks, i.e., virtual networks.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a network managing method and system which allow an administrator to easily register and update management information even when the configuration of a network is modified over a plurality of related virtual closed area networks.
The present invention provides a network managing method and system for use in a network having a plurality of communication terminals and at least one switch circuit for controlling communications between the communication terminals for registering and updating management information which defines the operations of the communication terminals and the switch circuit. The method defines a plurality of virtual closed area networks each having the communication terminal or the switch circuit selected in accordance with a predetermined rule, and defines the management information for each of a plurality of logical hierarchies segmented in accordance with a predetermined rule. The communication terminals and the switch circuit each belong to one of the closed area networks or the logical hierarchies, and have storage means for storing management information on the closed area network or the switch circuit to which it belongs. At least one of the communication terminals communicates management information to be registered and updated among the communication terminals and the switch circuit, which store the management information to be registered and updated, based on inputted information, and manages the registration and update of the management information for each of the closed area networks and for each of the logical hierarchies.
The network managing system according to the present invention defines a network having a switch circuit based on a logical configuration, and defines management information on the network for each virtual closed area network and for each logical hierarchy for management. In addition, the management information can be registered and updated also on each logical hierarchy. Since the management information is managed in a more simple form on each logical hierarchy, the administrator can easily carry out registration and update operations for the management information even when the configuration of the network is modified over a plurality of closed area networks.